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 Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:55 am
He had a new neighbor, it seemed, though Merric had not actually met whoever it was that had moved in next door. Chris was on one side, but he was a quiet person, and did not tend to make a great deal of noise; and besides, whoever it was that had just been recruited was directly across the hall, not next door.
Merric was not generally the sort to involve himself in anything that did not have merit, but he was trying to not think about several things, and this was, at the very least, a distraction.
He knocked on the door to the room and waited.
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Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:15 pm
Fred was re-organising his entire closet all over again when the door was knocked. Mostly finished with his task but with a large array of impressively tailored clothes on the bed still, all laid out and awaiting his attention. He answered. leaning in the doorframe.
"Hey there." he said brightly, dressed in a fancy silk waistcoat, shirt and trousers, all in purple and deep reds. "How can I help you mate?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:44 pm
For a moment, awkwardly, he'd thought he'd gotten the wrong room, and that somehow Roswell had decided to take it upon himself to move out of Lysander's and into one of his own.
But then the world righted himself, because it had only been a brief second of identical faces; everything else about the other Roswell sibling was vastly different, from the top of his pale, pink hair to the bottom of his brightly colored shoes.
Merric cleared his throat. "Oh. Ah. You're - you're Frederick Roswell, aren't you?" It wasn't really a question. "I'm...Merric Cassel, I'm a - a friend of your brother's. I didn't realize you had..."
He trailed off, as usual.
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Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 11:14 am
"Yep." he said. "Though call me Fred, Frederick is my sunday name. Nice to meet you Merric." And there was something even brighter about the way he seemed to smile at the understanding Merric was a pal of Tom's
"That I had..?" and he let the question trail off himself.
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Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 6:49 pm
He had little to no idea of the relationship Roswell had with his brother, and didn't want to pry, even if he was curious. All he remembered was that they did not get along - or at least, he assumed this, based purely on Twitter conversations and what Roswell had said.
"That you had, ah, moved in here," said Merric, glancing over his shoulder at his own door before looking back at Fred. "Across from me, I mean. I - sorry, my manners - "
A hand was extended out towards Fred, belatedly.
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Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:00 am
Fred shook Merric's hand with so much enthusiasm it practically sent a ripple along his whole arm. "Great!" he said.
"Great to have a neighbour like you. Just across the way eh? I can ask you if I'm missing some sugar or something." He looked into the room which didn't have much in it other than his clothes. "I mean, I could ask for that if I had an actual kitchen."
The bed got a critical look also. "And man is a new mattress high on my priority list, I wouldn't like to run a blacklight over that thing. The whole room needs colour and a lot of it but I've got ideas. I always have ideas."
He clapped Merric enthusiastically on the shoulder. "So how do you know Tom?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:59 am
By the time Merric got his arm back, it felt a little wobbly. He stared at Fred with wide, startled eyes and wondered how on earth he had thought that he and Roswell were even the slightest bit similar. "I - yes," he stammered, glancing back over his shoulder at his own room, an instinctive gesture. "I mean, I don't - have any sugar, that I know of. You'd be better off trying the kitchens."
Merric's eyes flickered to the heap of bright clothing on Fred's bed, then back to the man himself. "Oh, I - I met him and Lysander back, ah, during my orientation a few months ago." He managed a faint smile. "We were all sort of thrown into an unexpected situation, so we sort of...grouped together."
He was trying very hard - and failing - not to blush.
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 12:52 pm
"Oh I don't need sugar." Fred said, giving Merric a puzzled look, as if he'd completely forgotten his comment about it. "But yes that's some very good advice to give if I did mate."
His grin broadened at the rest of what the other man had to say. "Oh thrown in together and grouped. That sounds very buddy-buddy. Pals. I bet they really like you, Tom's not very agreeable so if you managed to be his friend then I bet Lysander was easy. Kind of guy you just need to jangle some keys in front of and he'll be your best mate."
He'd completely noted the blushing and it just goaded him ever onwards.
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 2:05 pm
Merric's brows drew together, but he abandoned the sugar comment in favor of focusing on whatever else Fred was talking about.
Which, as it turned out, was a very sensitive subject, and not actually what Merric wanted to talk about. "It's not...buddy buddy, I would say," he protested, unsure of why exactly he was protesting, but feeling the need to do so anyway. "We...we work together, and Roswell is perfectly agreeable, from what I've seen."
He needed to not get into this with Roswell's brother. Merric shifted from one foot to the other. "And Lysander is agreeable as well, I've found both of them, um, to be easy to get along with."
The questions were not helping with his blushing. Merric took a breath and tried to change the subject. "You've just woken up, haven't you? What do you think so far?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 5:31 pm
"So just co-workers then?" he said. "That's a bit sad. Do you have actual friends? Those guys can be workaholics, its not good for someone to always be working."
"Oh and yeah! I did just wake up. It's nice. I like it here a lot honestly, lots of pretty women, shame about the weather."
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Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 4:27 pm
He wasn't sure if he was meant to be offended or not at the sad comment, or the actual friends question, Merric giving Fred a somewhat startled look. "I mean we're - we friends, yes, we talk, they don't...I wouldn't say that we're always working..."
He cleared his throat, trying to fixate on something else before he got more flustered than he already was.
"Yes, I don't mind storms, but it's been going on for quite some time, and it's very, ah...dampening, I would say," said Merric. "I wish there was sun, after a while it becomes rather depressing. But, um, I'm glad that you like it here so far and that you've...found people to talk to."
If that's what he meant by the pretty women thing.
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 6:03 am
Fred seemed to brighten up a bit at this. "Well that's good then, I was worried that it was just all work all the time. I know what Ros is like and he gets into work way too much to the exclusion of all else. Glad to hear you guys aren't always working then." This guy was quite an odd bean and he got flustered really easily.
"Sort of found people to talk to mate, most people here seem a bit withdrawn and reserved, they don't want to talk to anyone very much other than just like, to shoot the s**t. Still a nice place, I'm sure they warm up given time."
Merric got a curious look. "Do anything much for fun?" he asked. "From what I could tell from twitter this place is just one big swinger's party."
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 9:15 am
It was a little bizarre to see such a different array on a face that was, at its core, almost identical to Roswell's. But everything about Fred was so different that it was becoming a little harder to even make the connection in the first place; a distorted mirror version of the other.
"Both of them have spent time doing things that aren't work, so I don't think you have to worry there," said Merric, and then felt his face warm again because he himself fell under the withdrawn and reserved category on many levels. He cleared his throat and added, "Well, I have noted that many people do like to just...cause trouble."
A lot of people. Merric caught swinger's party and felt himself growing flustered all over again.
"I...I read a lot," he said lamely, then hastily added, "U-um, I...I've recently begun training a little more, and I've spent a lot of time in the libraries..."
Which all made him sound outstandingly useless.
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 1:37 pm
"Tch." he said with a smirk
"Libraries are pretty cool." Fred said with a nod, not condemning Merric's choice of hobbies. "Not super exciting but not everyone needs super exciting I guess." He gave him a hopeful look.
"I like exciting things, probably a bit of a troublemaker too by your definition. Not in a harmful way just a sort of....doing things way I guess mate."
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 2:35 pm
He felt a little relieved that he was not being seen as pathetic or bookish, even if that was exactly what Merric knew he was. He did, however, flush a little at not super exciting, though Fred's look of hope made his brows draw together in bemusement.
"What sort of exciting things?" Merric asked curiously. "Since you said not harmful..?"
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